So what is voice search and why should you know about it? Let me start from the beginning. What is voice search? Just like it sounds. You search by talking to Siri or Google or maybe Alexa. Are you one of those people who usually tell Google or Siri to tell jokes? Then you are well acquainted with voice search.
In recent years, people have started talking about the Internet of Things. This means that all sorts of things are becoming connected and can collect and exchange data. It could be your watch that has signalled that you are not sleeping well or shelves in shops that are becoming empty. The applications are endless.
Did you know that every second 127 new devices are connected to the internet worldwide? Incredibly impressive!
Why is voice search important?
More and more people are starting to use voice search to find something or find out about something. This can be at home while someone is cooking and has their hands full with other things. However, it is most common to use voice search when you are on the go and only have your phone with you. It is also very common for people to do local searches. This is because they are searching for things that are close to where they are.
As society becomes increasingly digital and more people get smart homes, it's important for you and your business to keep in mind to adapt your SEO to voice search. This is especially important for those who have a local business. For example, a bicycle shop, restaurant or hairdressing salon.
How to succeed in voice search?
You will read about some points that can be crucial if you want your business to invest and succeed in voice search.
Speed
To be visible during voice search, your website must be fast. You should aim for 1 second but under 3 seconds can work.
Choosing the right keywords
This is different from how someone searches via computer and via voice search. If you're sitting at a computer and idly browsing, you might type in a short phrase "best restaurant Örebro". But if you use voice search if you are on the go, the search looks more like "which restaurants are open now". You need to speak the same language as your target audience does to succeed. You can read about what you need to know about keyword analysis here.
Short or long phrases?
A "normal" search contains on average 3 words. However, this trend is changing and it is becoming increasingly common to write queries.
As far as voice search is concerned, longer phrases are the rule. These can be between 7 and 10 words. This is not surprising as it is easier and faster to say 10 words than to type them.
Contents
When it comes to Google's search engine, it likes pages that have 2200 words or more. Pages with fewer words don't rank as well with Google because they contain less information that can be useful to the searcher. So if your page has 200-400 words, it's not very user-friendly when it comes to voice search.
However, it is incredibly important to be able to offer quick and short answers among larger content. The page can be about "What is voice search" but the answer itself is perhaps 1-2 sentences to make it easy to find the answer you are really looking for.
The future is here
If you're wondering when voice search will overtake regular search, that remains to be seen. In 1987, "Trek: The Next Generation" cinema primary and in the film humans could communicate verbally with computers. It's been 34 years since that film had a primary. But let's not forget that Apple launched the first iPhone in 2007, less than 15 years later basically everyone has a smartphone. Today, we more or less live in a society where we communicate with computers on a daily basis. So who knows what the future has to offer.
